


I'm Not

by Skyla_Schultz



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Canon Compliant, Hurt/Comfort, Just some nice cute hurt/comfort, M/M, Nightmares, One Shot, Post-The Heroes of Olympus, They watch Coco so small spoilers for that, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-26 09:16:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20739845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyla_Schultz/pseuds/Skyla_Schultz
Summary: “Bia...well not her. I knew it wasn't her. That would have been impossible. But it...it still looked like her. And sounded like her...and what she said…” He started gnawing on his lip. After a few moments, Will decided that he wasn't going to continue. But it was fine. Whatever Nico heard was clearly not anything good.Will gently took Nico's hand and started softly rubbing circles. It seemed to calm Nico down a bit. His breathing evened out and his heartbeat slowed down.“Whatever you heard wasn’t true, okay?” Will didn't know what Nico heard, but he decided that that assumption was probably correct. Of course, Nico doesn't always agree with him.He pulled his hand out of Will's and stood up.“Yes it was! She said I was terrifying! That I was a monster!”In other words, Nico had a tartarus Nightmare and Will helps comfort him.





	I'm Not

Nico and Will were currently sitting in the Apollo Cabin doing a movie marathon. Will had made it his personal mission to get Nico as caught up with the modern world as he could, and watching all of the popular movies was definitely high on the list. 

They were currently watching _ Coco _, and Nico clearly seemed to be enjoying it. He had a smile on his face for the entire movie….no, correction. Most of the movie. They were at the scene where Miguel sings for Coco and he now had a tear streaming down his cheek. 

“Nico? Are you crying?” 

His boyfriend furiously wiped his cheeks and glared at Will. “Of course not.” 

“It looked to me like you were,” Will teased. 

“I was not!” 

“You were too.”

“It’s just a movie. I wasn’t” 

“A really sad scene in the movie. And you got emotional.” 

“I didn’t. Shut up. I’m trying to pay attention.” 

“It’s cute.” 

Will was planning for that to be the end of their current conversation. Nico clearly wasn’t okay with that. 

“I’m not cute,” he mumbled. 

Will wasn’t sure if Nico was planning for Will to hear him, but Will did, and he couldn’t leave it at that. 

“You are cute.” 

“Shut up Will.” 

“It’s true though. You’re my adorable boyfriend.” 

“Shut up Will.” 

Will pouted and lightly wrapped his arms around Nico who was sitting next to him on the floor with his legs to his chest. Nico didn’t protest, so Will lightly squeezed him and buried his face in his hair. It was soft and smelled like pomegranates and some flowery smell that Will wanted to think was Chrysanthemums since that would be hilarious. Will was going to have to ask for some the next time he went to a flower shop.

Once the movie ended, Nico leaned more into Will and linked their fingers together. 

It was nice. Comforting. Warm. 

Nico's emotions were as unpredictable as he was. But when he was like this, his breathing was soft and he looked like he was completely at peace. He wasn't anxious and looking over his shoulder every minute. Instead his eyes were closed, and there was a small smile on his face. 

It made Will feel happy. He was able to make Nico feel safe. Nico had gone through hell, literally, and more. There were probably only a few moments Nico felt safe since he found out he was a demigod. But he deserved it. Everyone did. 

And Will was happy that he could make Nico feel as safe as Will felt around him. Will didn’t know why Nico felt safe around him. Afterall, Nico could probably take an entire army down himself if he tried. Will couldn’t really do that. All he could do was heal people and tell bad jokes. But as long as Nico was happy, Will didn’t really see the need to ask...yet at least. 

“Hey Will,” Nico asked sleepily. And that was completely cute no matter how much Nico denied it. 

“Yeah?” 

“Time?” 

“Will looked towards the clock hanging on the wall near the door. “6:18. Almost time for dinner.” 

“Can we skip?” 

Will frowned. “No. We need to eat. Food is important.” 

“Can I skip?” 

“It’s as important for you as it is for me.” 

“I ate breakfast and lunch. That’s enough. I don’t _ need _ dinner.” 

“You ate one pancake for breakfast and a turkey sandwich for lunch.”

“And that’s enough.” 

“No it isn’t.” 

“Come on Will,” Nico pleaded. “I’m tired. Can I just go to bed?” 

Will bit his lip. This was unusual. Right after the war with Gaea, Nico used to skip meals and go days without sleeping. But his habits had improved since then. He usually ate three times a day and he slept every resulting in him barely ever being tired before 10. 

“Is something wrong?” Will asked. He lifted his head up, so he could see Nico more clearly. 

“No. I’m fine.” 

Will sighed. He’d be surprised the day Nico finally decided to admit what was wrong the first time someone asked. 

“Then why aren’t you eating? And why are you tired?” 

Nico opened his eyes. “I just am.” 

“That’s not an answer.” 

“I said it, so it clearly is.” 

Will shook his head and unwrapped his arms and sat next to Nico. Nico frowned, but didn’t say anything. 

“Seriously, Neeks. What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing.” 

Will groaned. 

Maybe Nico was upset over the movie. It was about family, and maybe that upset him. 

No, that wouldn’t explain why he barely ate anything before. 

The only times Nico acted like this now were…

“Nightmare?” 

Nico frowned, but didn’t say anything. Will took that as a yes. 

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” 

Nico whispered it so quietly that Will wouldn’t have heard it if he wasn’t paying close attention. “Tartarus.” 

Will knew those nightmares were bad. He knew that whatever happened down there had to be bad. 

He never got the full story. He only got small pieces from Nico, Percy, and Annabeth. He knew that none of them wanted to talk about it. It got to the point that Will stopped asking Nico questions as soon as he said it. It became enough of an explanation. 

If Nico ever told him anything about that place, it was because he wanted to and not him getting annoyed from Will's prodding. 

This time seemed to be one of those times. 

“Bia...well not her. I knew it wasn't her. That would have been impossible. But it...it still looked like her. And sounded like her...and what she said…” He started gnawing on his lip. After a few moments, Will decided that he wasn't going to continue. But it was fine. Whatever Nico heard was clearly not anything good. 

Will gently took Nico's hand and started softly rubbing circles. It seemed to calm Nico down a bit. His breathing evened out and his heartbeat slowed down. 

“Whatever you heard wasn’t true, okay?” Will didn't know what Nico heard, but he decided that that assumption was probably correct. Of course, Nico doesn't always agree with him. 

He pulled his hand out of Will's and stood up. 

“Yes it was! She said I was terrifying! That I was a monster!” 

“And that's not true.” 

“It is true! I am a freaking monster.” 

He sits down on the couch the two of them were leaning on and covers his face with his hands. Will gets up and sits down next to him. 

“What makes you think that?” Will asked gently. 

“I...It...I've been at camp for almost a year, and, yeah, none of the year rounders are terrified of me, but the others are. And there has to be some reason behind it.” 

Things were starting to click in Will's mind. 

“Did someone say something?” 

Nico was started to bite at his thumb and Will gently grabbed it and set it on his lap. 

“It’s stupid.”

“It's not.” 

“It is!” Nico sighed. “I'm sorry. Let's just go have dinner.” He moved to stand up by Will held his arm up and stopped him. 

“Nico please. Just tell me what's wrong.” 

“It's not important.” 

“You had a Tartarus nightmare! It's clearly important.” 

Nico looks down into his lap. His eyes seemed dull, and Will hated it. 

“I won't tell anyone unless you want me to,” He reassured. 

Nico slowly nodded. Nico didn't say anything, but Will waited; he gave him time to collect his thoughts. 

“It’s stupid. It's so stupid. It was just...I think she's a Demeter kid. Mallory?” 

Will didn't know any Mallory in the Demeter Cabin, but he also admitted that he didn't know every camper's name. That was the main reason each file in the infirmary had a picture. 

“Whatever.” Nico frowned and curled into himself. 

Will started combing through Nico's hair with his fingers. That usually helped him calm down. 

“What happened?” 

“She...During the camp fire. I just got there and I was trying to get to where you were. And...well, on the way, I passed her, and she whispered something, and I probably wasn't supposed to hear it, but…” Nico groaned. “She said something about why the freakish son of Hades was still here and that she thought the borders were apparently not working since monsters were now allowed at camp.” 

Will was going to find this Mallory girl and have a long talk with her. Will thought they were past people being terrified of Nico's presence. All of the year round campers seemed to be. But then again, the year round campers were also around Nico for much longer. All of the summer only campers still barely knew him. 

“It wasn't a big deal. I was just going to ignore it like I always do,” Nico continued. “But then I have some stupid Tartarus nightmare, and well, I started thinking about it, and she is right. Mallory and Tartarus Bianca.” 

“You're not a monster Nico,” Will repeated. 

“Yeah? Well, you're also the weirdo who says I'm cute while everyone else thinks I'm fucking terrifying. I mean, I try walking around a couple mortals, and they start walking the other direction. Most of them give me one look and cross the stupid street. And they probably don't even know why. And I try to get near an animal and they either run away or attack me. It's been months, and the only Pegasus that allows me to ride them is still only Blackjack. The rest of them neigh and move away. Hell, the demigods from the Argo 2 were scared of me. Percy and Jason used to be scared of me. Me. Not Hazel so it clearly isn't a death God thing, it's a me thing.” 

“That doesn't mean it's your fault Neeks.” Will tried to comfort him, but Nico was currently on a role, so Will knew how useless his efforts were. 

“Not my fault? Then who's fault is it? Who's fault is it that I'm a crazy monster. Who's fault is it that my powers are absolutely terrifying. Who's fault is it that I have some natural death aura that everyone can apparently feel and wants to stay away from. Who's fault is it that me just existing scares people away. And you know what? All that isn't my fault. I couldn't control it. But I could have done something. But no. I kill monsters in the weird morbid ways. I get annoyed and angry too easily and sometimes just burst. I've killed people. I may have had to do something, but I didn't have to kill them.” 

“Hey,” Will grabbed Nico's arms and turned him towards him. Nico's mouth closed with the click of his teeth hitting each other. 

Will sighed. “Listen. You having some weird death aura isn't your fault. And you didn't kill anyone without reason. Bryce needed to be stopped and that was the only way. And I was there with you when Octavian was launched. If you killed him, then so did I.” Will took a deep breath. “I'll be blunt. Your powers _ are _terrifying. You can summon armies of the dead and travel through shadows and put people to sleep. Not to mention that you're crazy good with your sword. In a fight, you're terrifying.” 

Will could feel Nico deflate in his arms. His anger was fading, and instead, he was beginning to process Will's words. 

“You're super powerful and that makes you terrifying. But you know what?” Will continued. “Percy and Jason, they're powers are all crazy powerful and terrifying too. Anyone who's stupid enough to go against them in a fight should be terrified.”

“No one's scared of _ them _.” 

“No. Because all the campers know that they're more than just their powers. For you they don't cause that's all they know about you. I mean, none of the year rounders are scared of you. And that's cause they know that you're not going to use your powers against them just cause. They know that you're more than just your powers because they've seen you act like a nerdy adorable teenager. Once everyone else sees that, they won't be scared of you either. Because you're _ not _ a monster.” 

“But…” 

Will shushed him. “No buts. Almost all the people that got to know you like you. That means that it's not your fault, but the people who hate you.”

Nico's features soften and a small smile spreads across his face. “Sorry.”

Will let's go of Nico's arms and ruffles his hair with a smile. “I'll tell my terrifying and cute boyfriend that as many times as it takes to get it into his head.” 

“Thanks.”

“No problem. And Mallory from the Demeter Cabin is going to be the last one checked at the next capture the flag.” 

“Will!” 

“I'm kidding...maybe.” 

Nico glares at him for a few moments before a few laughs slip out of his mouth. 

The conch horn blows calling all the campers to dinner. 

“Come on,” Will says standing up. “Let's go get dinner.” 

Nico gets up and follows him out of the cabin without any complaint. 

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting around on my computer for more than a year, so I decided to finally go ahead and post it. This was going to be a small section of a longer one shot, but I don't really have any motivation to write the rest, so I decided to just post this part since it works as a standalone.  
I hope those of you who decided to read it enjoyed!  
Thank you for reading!  
Please leave a comment and/or kudos if you did  
I hope you all have a great day/night wherever you are! :)


End file.
